White Burgundy is SOOO frustrating! I need a place to rant for just a minute. To set the stage…I lack the resources or opportunities to indulge in the top Domaines and Grand Crus, but I’ve still managed to have some amazing white Burgundy experiences; aged Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru, some really lovely Chablis, a shockingly good de Villain Bouzeron a few months ago. But the failure of these wines is just maddening…and they cost SO MUCH MONEY!
The premox issue is well discussed. Tonight I opened a 2012 Guy Robin Grand Cru Valmur and it was totally corked. Completely undrinkable! Just a few weeks ago I opened a 2014 Michel Caillot Meursault "“La Barre Dessus Clos Marguerite”. Also completely corked. While not $$$$, these are not inexpensive wines. So few current release White Burgs utilize DIAM. It seems to me that a full 50% of the White Burgundy I buy is either not that good (low quality and way overpriced), or frankly oxidized or corked. I feel like pulling my hair out sometimes. Why do I buy these wines at all when there are so many other great options? I don’t know.
Why does White Burg get a pass?! I can’t imagine drinkers tolerating such a high failure rate for any other wine region. Great experiences be damned; I can have great experiences from Bordeaux, Piedmont, Alsace, Mosel, Sonoma, Oregon etc etc without so much disappointment and WASTED MONEY!
OK rant over. But what do you think? Do you have a similar White Burgundy failure rate? Am I just unlucky? Too picky? Justified? Do you think White Burgundy is worth the stratospheric pricing? Let us all know.
That’s the main reason why I shy away from white Burgundy.
Even if I chose to spend a lot on a nice bottle, its tough to justify buying something that has such a high failure rate. I’d hate to spend hundreds of dollars or more on a bottle for a special occasion only to have it be be premoxed. It’s a tough sell to me as a customer.
I like to buy white burgs from stores because if they are flawed you can return them. Auction, you are screwed. Maybe 6 years ago Wally’s sold the Roy Welland collection and I loaded up on white burgs just to return about 1/3 of them as they were poxed. They fully refunded me. Quality store.
Anything sealed under natural cork can be oxidised or corked. Not just white Burgundy. The fact you had two from Burgundy that were corked was simply chance.
I recently poured a 1995 Chateau Margaux down the sink because it was corked, a Clos St.Hune because of oxidation and a very good 2010 Chianti Riserva (where all other bottles have been tremendous) because of oxidation. I also did a tasting at a local winery, who’s wines are sealed with the very best corks money can buy, with a money back guarantee for any tainted bottles. Their top wine that retails for 100’s of dollars was corked. I will not rant against Bordeaux, Alsace, Barossa and Tuscany, but will rant against cork.
Have never poured out a wine under screwcap for being faulty (and I’ve tasted thousands of wines under this seal). Focus your energy on a proven fix!!! and don’t just blame Burgundy.
True, anything under a cork can get corked or oxidized. Also true, the fact that I had two bad corked White Burgundies back to back is bad luck. But I have to say that my failure rate with White Burgundy (corked, oxidized, or just plain not very good) is MUCH higher than with any other wines. Failure rate is high and quality is inconsistent. I’m disappointed at least as frequently as I am satisfied. And they’re so expensive!
But the most frustrating part is that, despite the high failure rate and high cost, White Burgundy can be so good. I can never quite make up my mind whether gambling on a bottle is worth it. I guess it is for since, since I still buy them…But I have to say, I don’t struggle with this question with any other wine region.
Screwcaps are great, though I wonder how wines would age for 40-50 yrs under them. Would 1958 Barolo be as delicious if bottled under a screw cap all these years? Nobody knows. We’ll have to wait and see. I’ve never had a corked or premoxed wine under a DIAM, though I suppose its possible. Can’t imagine the great houses of Bordeaux or Burgundy switching to screw cap anytime soon, but DIAM is a possibility.
We say “YOU HAVE A BIG PROBLEM!!” and they sell their wines easily at rising prices and say “sorry, what problem?”
Plus most people don’t buy white wine and hold it for many years and thus don’t encounter premox much or at all.
I mostly drink them in the first 5-6 years from vintage now. The biggest problem I have are the sharply rising prices. You can hardly get a decent village Puligny, Chassagne or Meursault for under $70 anymore.
At the same time, there are more and better new world Chardonnays made in similar (but of course not identical) styles. I’m looking more to places like Kutch, Rhys, Ceritas, Chanin, and various Oregon producers.
don’t forget Don Cornwell’s wiki that helps know which producers to avoid and which to trust re premox. And some, like Bouchard, have switched to Diam. Ten years ago it was a minefield, easier now.
This. Don has done many wine lovers a great service by trying to track the producers who have switched to Diam. I have had luck with all Diam closures that I have encountered. If there is pressure from consumers, maybe many more producers will switch. Only heard one winemaker complain that they could taste a difference with wine under Diam. He stated that it tasted “minty?” as compared to natural cork. I will take that over “cardboardy” anytime.
